{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "description": "I'd never heard of The Raid until I watched Havoc . Gareth Edwards directed both, the later was superb and the former — this particular movie — is essential. Whenever anyone holds up a list of action movies and proclaims it a list of the greatest action movies, if that list doesn't include The Raid , that proclamation is either ill-informed or outright wrong. The Raid is breathless, wall to wall action (window to wall?). A necessary and brief intro for Uwais' Rama provides enough of an anchor to make his motivations clear and the rest of the movie is a dead sprint. It's claustrophobic, bloody, merciless and pauses to breathe, barely — just barely — while Rama is trapped in a wall dragging a colleague to safety. There's barely room to breathe trapped in a space like that, but it's all the room he gets. There's betrayal and blood everywhere, a promise of free rent in perpetuity (not a great building, but it is in the city) and so much gunfire that everyone rapidly resorts to knives, blunt instruments and the creative use of doors and stairwells. The John Wick franchise owes a debt to this film. Luckily, those films are so good that each installment qualifies as a substantial payment towards that debt.",
  "path": "/watching/movies/the-raid-2011",
  "publishedAt": "2025-06-13T13:30:00Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:sttgf52vkk46f6yuknvqxvgh/site.standard.publication/self",
  "tags": [
    "thriller",
    "crime",
    "action"
  ],
  "title": "The Raid"
}